Love over Faith
by Prince Arjuna
Summary: I preferred love than faith from you. A story about Suwako from the eyes of a known stranger. Review is appreciated.


Love Over Faith

Written by Albireo Imma

Disclaimer: I never own Touhou Project or Suwako

_~hail and praise to Mishaguji-sama~_

You were once a scholar who served under the Emperor. You acted as his advisor and you were viewed as the most trustworthy among his other scholars. Because of constant attention of the Emperor upon you, other scholars and ministers were jealous on you.

So, they planned on getting rid of you by spreading the rumors that you had an affair with the Empress. Enraged, the Emperor gave his Queen a death sentence before he turned on you. You, along with my wife and children, were also put in the death sentence.

In the day of the execution, you were arranged as the last one to be executed. Much to your horror, you saw your beloved wife being killed mercilessly in front of you, before being followed by your children. Wailing in grief, you begged to the Emperor to not kill your youngest child. But your request remained unheeded.

When your turn was about to come, your fellow scholar came and told the truth to the Emperor. He said to the Emperor that you were innocent and the ones who were responsible for this were the Emperor's ministers. Realizing for what he had done, the Emperor ordered to his men to release you and brought the responsible ones to be punished.

As a token of apology, the Emperor promoted you the position of his minister; a position that was left empty after the jealous minister was executed. You declined the offer and remained as a humble scholar. Having your wife and children died because of the false charge was very hard for you to accept. You couldn't concentrate on translating the ancient scripts because of the trauma by seeing your beloved ones died in front of your eyes.

Having enough of these, you decided to get yourself out of the palace. You told the Emperor that you were quitting before you stepped out from the palace. You left the town and you decided to go to a place where humanity couldn't reach. Thus, you preferred to go to a mountain, which was far away from the palace and the town. The top of the mountain looked white because of the snow, very beautiful scenery to be seen for everyday.

There, you lived a very comfy yet simple life. Your companions were none other than the docile beasts like the mountain deer and foxes. You supported your life by growing rice and fishing. Sometimes, you went to the nearby village to sell the rice you had cultivated and the fish that you had caught. You also occasionally came to the village to teach the children some knowledge you had obtained from your time as a scholar.

To put it simple, it was quite a peaceful and quiet life, very different compared to your life as a scholar in the palace, where you should get your guard up. It was the peacefulness you sought, and yet you felt empty inside. You kept wondering if your family could be happy if they were there with you. So, you prayed to the Gods so you could have at least a companion who could be talked with.

Strangely enough, the Gods heeded your call. And They sent one of them to you.

One day, in a snowy night, you were on your way to your little house after searching for firewoods. In the middle of your journey, you spotted something, or rather someone on the snowy plain. You put the woods you had collected on the snowy ground before you went to the place where that 'someone' was lying on. It was an unconscious young teenager girl with strange-looking blonde hair. She was wearing a white yukata and you could see some blood stains on the clothes. You crouched and examined her. You could feel her breath and heart beat. The girl was still alive.

So, you picked the girl and brought her to your house. You nursed her wounds and treated her. She woke up three days later.

When she woke up, she looked rather confused with her new surroundings. She seemed afraid to the point that she started crying. You tried to comfort her, but then you decided to not do it. After calming down, you prepared the girl a meal. Well, rice and grilled fish weren't considered as a gourmet thing, but that's the only thing you could prepare to her.

She ate the meal very fast to the point that she might choke herself while eating it. After finishing the meal, you asked her about her name.

_Suwako. Suwako Moriya._

Suwako, that's not a very weird name for a girl around her age. But, something bothered you. It seemed that you had heard about that name before. A flash of memory about an ancient writing flooded your mind. You shrugged it off though.

Suwako began to live with you in your house. At first, she was quite reserved. She stayed in your house while you went out for the paddy you had grown. After living together for a month, you realized something different about Suwako. She looked younger than before. Then, it hit you.

Mishaguji.

It was a group of curse gods and was feared by everyone. Even the Emperor feared them because they could bring his government crumbled down to the earth for just one night. These evil gods were led by a great goddess who ruled the mountains, the founder of Mishaguji, associated with the earth's frogs, the goddess Moriya. Moriya, Suwako's surname was Moriya.

So, you asked her about the thing that hit your mind. After staring you for at least some seconds, she said it.

_I am Suwako Moriya, the goddess of mountain, the leader of Mishaguji._

So, she explained that she was lost in a war by a rival goddess, the goddess Yasaka. Suwako lost her place and was left to fade away. One more thing, she shrunk in size because a goddess like her needed something to support her life. Without it, she would eventually cease to exist.

Faith.

The goddess continued to live because of the faith of her worshipers. After being kicked out from the goddess' Parthenon, she wouldn't be worshiped by her followers, and without their faith, she would eventually die.

You felt sympathetic to the former goddess. So, you offered her to live with you. She was reluctant at first but you assured to her that she would be fine with you. You said that she would live if she was still worshiped. Your relationship with her was considered as 'faith', which would allow her to continue to exist.

Within years, you've grown old as Suwako remained as a child. You began to love her as your own daughter even though she was older than you, at least about a thousand years. There's nothing better than having her cheerful face that greeted you when you're back from the village after teaching the children. She also loved to keep frogs in the house, since she herself technically was a frog. You enjoyed the live with her.

Until one day, when you were back from the village, the time when you were expecting the usual greeting, only silence filled the air. You were confused by the unfamiliarity before you entered you house, only to see Suwako, lying unconsciously on the floor. You hastily went towards her and checked her. She was still alive, thank goodness, but something seemed off. Her body was awfully cold and almost translucent. It was what you feared the most.

You spent the entire week taking care of her. Your paddy crops were abandoned and the children were wondering where you went because you didn't show up to them. Then, you let out a sigh of relief as you felt that Suwako's body began to look solid and warm again, and yet she was still too weak to be left alone.

One day, when you were cooking for your dinner, Suwako called you from her bed. You heeded her call and went to her. Then, she asked you something that you could never expect.

_What am I to you?_

You answered to her that you viewed her as your daughter, a precious one. She turned her face, seemingly unsatisfied by your response. Then, she said.

_I am older than you, you know?_

You just chuckled by what she said to you. Unexpectedly, she touched your hand. Her hand was so small, and you wouldn't believe that those small hands were the hands of a goddess of curse.

_I am expecting a relationship more than just being a daughter…_

Because of that, you felt rather reluctant. Before you could think about it further, Suwako stood up and forced you to stand up as well. You couldn't say a word as you felt something soft stuffed on your lips.

You almost forgot the feeling of touching the delicate parts of a woman, and the 'intimate' moment with Suwako had resurfaced the buried feeling. It was rather odd to do it with a pint-sized lady, but you brushed it away as it brought such a great pleasure to you. Then, she whispered to you in such seductive manner.

_Getting love is better than faith from you…_

Well, you couldn't comment it, but who care? You enjoyed the moment with her in that snowy night, the night when you found her about years ago.

Because of that event, your view to her had changed. You considered her as a partner of life instead of a daughter. Suwako was in her good condition again. And yet, something miraculous happened. She became rather moody to you before you saw the apparent change on her.

Suwako, along with the faith and love you had given to her, carried another life within her. You were quite happy with that revelation but still worried about her at the same time because she was too small for birthing a child. You took an extensive care on her as her stomach began to enlarge. You sought for a trustworthy woman who could help Suwako. Day after day, the time had come.

It was very long before you heard the voice of a crying baby. After some moments, you were allowed to enter the house and you saw a healthy baby being carried by a woman who you trusted to help Suwako. Suwako was lying on her bed, seemingly exhausted but still able to show you her cheerful smile.

Then, you had made a happy family with Suwako. Your child had grown up into a fair little girl. You decided to give your daughter a present. You carved something from the wood that turned out to be a frog-shaped hair decoration. It looked rather dull before Suwako used her divine power to make it shiny and real. Your daughter was quite happy for that.

You continued your life with your family happily until one day when a stranger visited your house. Suwako was surprised by the presence of the stranger. Both of them were having a talk, and you could see Suwako's sad face as both of them were talking. Then, the stranger, a well-endowed woman with blue hair went to you. She introduced herself as a goddess, Kanako Yasaka. She said to you that she needed Suwako to maintain her followers' faith.

At first, you refused. But then, she said that you had become old, and would eventually die. She reminded you that Suwako lived because of your faith and love to her, and if you died, Suwako would lose the source of her faith, and eventually cease to exist. Reluctantly, you let her go.

At the day of Suwako's departure, or rather the snowy night, same like the night when you found her, she prepared to leave. Suwako was wearing a shroud and frog-shaped hat. She said to you that she would be okay before both of you shared your last kiss. Then, she left.

Unnoticed by you, she was crying.

* * *

"Suwako, what are you doing there?" Sanae asked the girl who stared blankly at the sky. Suwako turned her attention to the shrine maiden before she said.

"It's cold today. I wonder if snow will come down tonight…" the goddess said to her descendant. Then, she looked at the frog-shaped hair decoration on Sanae's hair before she smiled. Sanae tilted her head in confusion.

_Don't worry about me, I'm doing fine. About Sanae…_

Suwako looked back at the sky.

_I will protect her, just like what you had done to me…_

FIN

Hello, it's me, Albireo Imma. This is my third one-shot Touhou Project fanfic. This story is mainly about Suwako and I hope you people may like it. Read and review, but no flame please.

Albireo Imma


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